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RECRUITING QUESTION: WHICH POSITION HAS THE BEST CHANCE?

A question and topic that gets brought up more often than you would expect is: My son plays position x, but would a switch to position y give him a better chance of being seen and recruited by a college coach?

The specific question I received today was between the positions of Catcher and Third Base. Without ever seeing the kid play in a game or swing a bat, here is my response:

A DEFENSIVE catcher is always one of the most sought after positions on the field.

A catcher that can catch, throw, receive, block, and handle the pitching staff well is worth his weight in gold.

There just simply are not that many good defensive catchers throughout the country who can take over and control a game and a pitching staff and those types of catchers can make or break a team!

So my first suggestion is if he is a good defensive catcher (1.9 pop time, blocks and receives well, and is a great leader) let him stay behind the plate because that is probably the easiest way to college and professional baseball.

Outside of that, the next most important thing between catching and third base is the player’s ability to hit.

If a player has an above average to a plus bat, it doesn’t really matter what position he plays because he will be able to hit his way into a line-up and the coach can figure out the positioning later.

Outside of Shortstop, Catcher, and possibly Centerfield, hitting is the #1 thing that coaches and scouts look for.

If you can’t hit, it’s going to be tough for you to get on the field at a very high level!

My overall suggestion would be if you are an average catcher, continue to catch, working as hard as you can in order to improve your ability to make yourself an above average catcher.

This is an “easier” route to take to get seen.

However, it also is a good idea to work at a second position like Third Base so you can play it if needed. The ability to play multiple positions makes your value much greater at a higher level.